Here’s an older piece, ca. 1994, by Dr. Mary M. Knutson, while associate professor of systematic theology at the ELCA’s Luther Seminary in St. Paul. The general themes of this document and the ELCA’s 2009 proposed sexuality statment, Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust, are remarkably similar. In both, notice the:
- invocation of Scripture and Luther (or other Reformers);
- promotion of Lutheran or biblical categories (justification, blessing, Bible, vocation, gift) in order to justify certain predetermined positions;
- promotion of the new über-values of “openness” or “trust” that trump all other ethical values;
- avoidance of actual biblical or Lutheran texts speaking to the issue at hand.
Both documents avoid what the Bible and Luther actually say about marriage, fornication, adultery, and so on. Both documents also theologize in Lutheran systematic categories rather than presenting a coherent theology on the subject.
[...] I have argued here and here, über-values (Bakernition: meta-ideals divorced from rational scrutiny and grounding in [...]